Senior moment proves costly as Rovers battle back for victory

When Leeds Rhinos’ Kallum Watkins spilled Keith Senior’s ill-conceived pass inside his own 20 it certainly saw the momentum swing crucially back in Hull KR’s favour on Saturday.

Now buoyed Rovers must work hard to maintain the feel-good factor which eventually stemmed from that costly Leeds error.

Justin Morgan’s side had been trailing 10-0 following an awful start, Kevin Sinfield casually opening up their left-hand side first with a long pass that saw Lee Smith exchange passes with Watkins to go over and then a lofted chip for the latter to collect.

Dominated around the ruck, unable to gain any semblance of field position, Rovers’ recent malaise seemed destined to continue, stretching to eight defeats in nine fixtures.

But then Watkins spilled and they came alive. Typically, it was Mick Vella who provided the much-needed ballast, their veteran Kangaroo prop returning after missing four games due to a knee injury, driving and twisting out of tackles to force his way over on 18 minutes.

“It’s great to see him back,” said Morgan. “When you look over your shoulder and see Mick Vella there it gives you a lift. His leadership was excellent.”

Barely 23 minutes later, after a series of splendid attacking forays that left Leeds dumbfounded, the inspired hosts were 28-10 ahead and the game was all but won.

Much of that can be put down to Blake Green, the ‘other’ Australian half-back at Craven Park.

Whereas all things have previously revolved around Michael Dobson, the sidelined scrum-half, Green stood up to deliver his best performance yet since joining from Canterbury Bulldogs in the winter.

Supplemented in a midfield triangle with sublime loose forward Ben Galea – far better when he gets his hands on the ball like this rather than running wide – and the always energetic Scott Murrell, he ran the show.

Jamie Jones-Buchanan infringed in the restart set after Vella’s try, his first in almost two years, allowing Rovers position to strike back-to-back.

Green stepped through after throwing a delicious dummy and showed great acceleration before Watkins and Brent Webb just dragged him down short.

However, great vision from Galea saw his well-executed long pass quickly expose Rhinos out wide for Kris Welham to ease over, Scott Murrell’s second of five conversions putting them in front for a lead they would never relinquish.

Showing increased confidence, Rovers ignored a penalty chance to force a drop out via Murrell’s delicate grubber and, from that pressure on the half-hour mark, Green slid though once more on the outside of Jones-Buchanan before producing a lovely pass out of the tackle for Matt Cook to score in his first appearance of the season.

They were fortunate with their fourth try when Ben Fisher found the impressive full-back Ben Cockayne storming through on a wonderful line behind the ruck to break Leeds once more up centre field, his pass to the supporting Murrell two metres forward but going unspotted by referee Thierry Alibert.

Rovers held their shape to thwart a couple of rare Leeds attacks and then scored a crucial fifth try just 80 seconds into the second half.

Winger Sam Latus, preferred to England international Peter Fox and Craig Hall, made a breathtaking 60-metre run after busting the Leeds line.

Webb tracked him down but quick hands to the other flank saw Rhinos stretched and Liam Colbon capitalise.

The frustration clearly got to Leeds who were lucky to stay at a full contingent after Ben Cross’s crude, high and off-the-ball challenge on Cockayne as he was waiting for a kick to drop out of the sky.

The often snarling Cockayne may not be the most likeable player in Super League but he did come in for some unnecessary attention, Sinfield also grounding him with a shoulder in a similar scenario to concede another penalty.

That was after Webb’s long pass had bounced fortuitously for Ryan Hall to score on 50 minutes, Sinfield converting from wide out to leave Rovers supporters edgy at 28-16.

However, the lively Green kept causing problems for the visitors with his running and, when Rhys Lovegrove found a decent off-load, swift hands to the left allowed Webster to feed Latus for the first of his season.

Leeds are at their most dangerous when they are desperate and that proved the case as they kept the ball alive on the last tackle before forcing a drop-out from which Webb’s inside pass put Paul McShane over.

But Rovers did not subside and fittingly Green sent Galea surging over off another delicate pass as the Leeds defence crumbled once more.

Watkins added a breathtaking individual try at the end to illustrate his innate talent but it was little consolation for his flat side who continue to struggle.

“We got a couple of highly-skilled tries but I wouldn’t say we started so well,” said coach Brian McDermott. “The word ‘soft’ is the one I’ve got in my head. You show that to any opposition and they go straight for your throat and Hull KR did that.

“There were a few individuals who stood up but as a group we were soft and I include the coaching staff involved in this.”